USB Flash-Memory Drive with Dazzling Marquee-Pattern Driver for Multi-LED Display

ABSTRACT

A multi-light-emitting diode (LED) display for a USB flash drive produces a visually dazzling display. When accessed, a USB flash controller drives pulses onto an activity signal that increments a counter on a pattern-decoding generator. The pattern-decoding generator decodes the count and drives signals to data outputs. The data outputs connect to LED&#39;s, turning LED&#39;s on and off according to a display pattern. The pattern can be programmed by the USB flash controller into the pattern-decoding generator, or can be a hardwired pattern. Marquee patterns having a lit LED appearing to move down a line of LED&#39;s have more visual appeal than single LED indicators. Each data line can drive two LED&#39;s in different parts of a dual display, reducing costs. Multi-color LED&#39;s can be used to improve variety. The multiple LED&#39;s and the pattern-decoding generator can be mounted on a flexible PCB.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

This invention relates to indicator displays, and more particularly to alight-emitting diode display for a Universal-Serial-Bus (USB)flash-memory device.

Electronic storage drives often have indicator lamps. For example, ahard-disk drive on a personal computer (PC) may have a singlelight-emitting diode (LED) that is illuminated while the disk is beingaccessed. An external flash-memory peripheral drive may have an LED thatis illuminated while being written. The user can safely remove theflash-memory drive or its media once the light goes out, indicating thatthe writing operation is completed.

Flash memory has gained wide acceptance for its non-volatile storage,which is ideal for portable devices that may lose power, since the datais not lost when stored in the flash memory. Flash memories areconstructed from electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory(EEPROM) cells.

Universal-Serial-Bus (USB) has become a popular standard interface forconnecting peripherals to a host such as a personal computer (PC).USB-based flash-memory storage devices or “drives” have been developedto transport data from one host to another, replacing floppy disks.While large external flash drives may be used, smaller USB flash drivesknown as key-chain or key drives have been a rapidly growing market.

A USB flash-memory device can be constructed from a microcontroller, aflash-memory controller or interface, and one or more flash-memorychips. A serial interface on the microcontroller connects to the USB busto the host, and data from the serial interface is transferred throughthe microcontroller to the flash controller and is written to theflash-memory chips.

The microcontroller can drive an output port that connects externally toa LED. The microcontroller can then turn the LED on or off by writing azero or a one to the output port. The microcontroller can set the outputport to a one when activity is occurring on the drive, such as anyaccess of the flash memory, such as read, write and erase.

While such an LED activity light is useful, the LED is often small andbarely noticeable to the user. A more elaborate display is desired tobetter capture the user's attention. A display for a USB flash drive isdesired that has multiple LED's. A more dazzling display on a USB flashdrive is desirable that can noticeably tell the user when data is beingtransferred to and from the flash drive. A display that could also be aselling point for the USB flash drive is desired, since the dazzlingdisplay could be made to flash on the display model in a store.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multi-LED display on a USB flash-memorydrive.

FIG. 2 is a timing diagram of the address generator and address decoderof FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows an alternative connection of LED's that share a limitingresistor.

FIG. 4 shows multi-color LED's driven by the address decoder.

FIG. 5 shows a more integrated pattern-decoding generator for amulti-LED display.

FIG. 6 is a table of commands or an address map sent over thegeneral-purpose bus to select LED cycling patterns.

FIG. 7 shows a USB flash drive with a flexible PCB having a multi-LEDdisplay.

FIG. 8 shows a round-circle multi-LED display.

FIGS. 9A-F show linear-display pattern sequences.

FIGS. 10A-F show dual linear-display pattern sequences.

FIGS. 11A-D show dual circular pattern sequences.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to an improvement in USB flash driveindicator displays. The following description is presented to enable oneof ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention as providedin the context of a particular application and its requirements. Variousmodifications to the preferred embodiment will be apparent to those withskill in the art, and the general principles defined herein may beapplied to other embodiments. Therefore, the present invention is notintended to be limited to the particular embodiments shown anddescribed, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with theprinciples and novel features herein disclosed.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multi-LED display on a USB flash-memorydrive. The USB flash drive can be a small portable device about the sizeof a thick key or pack of chewing gum. A USB connector (not shown) plugsinto a USB port on a host, allowing USB signals to be received by USBflash controller 10. USB flash controller 10 controls one or moreflash-memory chips (not shown) on the USB flash drive.

USB flash controller 10 contains a microcontroller that generates anactivity signal on an output port that drives external pin LED-OUT onthe package containing USB flash controller 10. Pin LED-OUT drivesactivity line ACT, which can be a wiring trace on a printed-circuitboard (PCB) containing USB flash controller 10, address generator 12,and address decoder 14.

Activity signal ACT is applied as the clock to address generator 12,which can be an N-bit counter. Each pulse of activity signal ACTincreases the count of address generator 12, which is reflected inaddress outputs A1:AN. The count of address generator 12 is reset tozero (or some other value) by its reset RS input, which is initiallypulled low at power-on by a capacitor, but is later pulled high by apull-up resistor to end the active-low reset pulse.

The N address lines from address generator 12 are input to addressdecoder 14. M-bit address decoder 14 decodes the N address inputs togenerate M data outputs D1, D2, D3, . . . DM. N is independent of M. Ncould be smaller or bigger or equal to M. The value 2^(N) represents atotal number of addresses and M represents the number of outputs foreach address. The output LED lines could have only one data outputactive at a time, or more than one data output can be active at a time.The activity signal ACT can also drive an output-enable OE input toaddress decoder 14 in some embodiments, so that the LED's are drivenonly during the low pulse of activity signal ACT.

LED's 20, 21, 22, . . . 23 are driven by data outputs D1, D2, . . . DMfrom address decoder 14. Limiting resistors 30, 31, 32, . . . 33 coupleLED's 20, 21, 22, . . . 23 to power (VDD) and limit current through aLED when a data output is driven low.

When a data output is driven low by address decoder 14, current ispulled through the LED, causing the LED to be illuminated. For example,when D2 is driven low by address decoder 14, LED 21 is turned on ascurrent is drawn through limiting resistor 31 from VDD.

FIG. 2 is a timing diagram of the address generator and address decoderof FIG. 1. The activity signal ACT is pulsed by USB flash controller 10when the flash memory is being accessed. As the device is powered up,the reset signal goes high as the capacitor for RS is charged by theresistor. After reset ends, each rising edge of activity ACT incrementsthe count of AN:A1. The address lines sequence through states 000, 001,010, 011, 100, etc. when address generator 12 is a binary up-counter.

Address decoder 14 activates one of the active-low data outputs inresponse to decoding of the address lines AN:A1 and the Output Enable(/OE) being low. Initially D1 is active low and the other data lines arehigh (off), so that LED 20 is on while ACT or OE is low. Then when OE islow, for address 001, data output D2 goes low, turning on LED 21, whilethe other data outputs are high, turning off the other LED's. On thenext falling edge of ACT, D3 is low and LED 22 is on, and then D4 is lowand the fourth LED turns on. Thus a marquee pattern of illuminating theLED's is produced wherein one LED is lit at a time, and the lit LEDappears to travel down the line of LED's.

FIG. 3 shows an alternative connection of LED's that share a limitingresistor. LED's 20, 21, 22, . . . 23 are driven by data outputs D1, D2,. . . DM from address decoder 14. However, the anodes of LED's 20, 21,22, . . . 23 are connected together and share limiting resistor 38. Whenonly one LED is on at a time, sharing a single resistor is notproblematic, although if different numbers of LED's were lit atdifferent times, sharing resistor 38 could result in varying lightintensities, depending on the number of lit LED's.

FIG. 4 shows multi-color LED's driven by the address decoder. Some LEDpackages contain multiple components packaged together as a singledevice. For example, a red, a green, and a blue LED can be packagedtogether in a 4-pin device and share a common resistor. Address decoder14 can drive separate data outputs for each color LED. For example, dataoutput D1R drives red LED 40, while data output D1G drives green LED 41,and data output D1B drives blue LED 42. While the cathodes of LED's 40,41, 42 are separate, the anodes of LED's 40, 41, 42 are connectedtogether and to resistor 48, which connects externally to VDD. Anothertri-color LED is shown as LED's 44, 45, 46 and resistor 49. Addressdecoder 14 drives LED's 44, 45, 46 and any other multi-color LED's.

FIG. 5 shows a more integrated pattern-decoding generator for amulti-LED display. Pattern-decoding generator 50 substitutes forfunctions of the address generator and address decoder in FIG. 1. USBflash controller 10′ drives activity line ACT to a clock input ofpattern-decoding generator 50 to sequence the pattern on data outputsD1, D2, D3 . . . DM, driving LED's 20, 21, 22, . . . 23. Current to VDDis limited by resistors 30, 31, 32, . . . 33.

An optional bus, general-purpose bus 52, may be included between USBflash controller 10′ and pattern-decoding generator 50. More complex andprogrammable pattern sequences can be supported with general-purpose bus52. For example, new patterns for cycling LED's 20, 21, 22, . . . 23 canbe sent over general-purpose bus 52 to pattern-decoding generator 50.These patterns may be installed from a host PC over the USB bus to USBflash controller 10′ and then sent over general-purpose bus 52. Commandsas well as new patterns may be transferred over general-purpose bus 52.Commands could select which of several patterns stored inpattern-decoding generator 50 to use.

Different values of resistors 30, 31, 32, 33, 48, and 49 from 5 K Ohm tonear 0 Ohm can be used for different output voltages. This can be usedto adjust the brightness or intensity of the LED's. The normal voltagecould be VDD, the middle voltage VDD/2, and the low voltage VDD/4, orsome other fractions of VDD or fixed voltages. The power-supply voltageVDD could be from 0.85 volt to 5.0 volts, or some other value.

An oscillator or local clock (not shown) can be driven topattern-decoding generator 50 for sequencing internal state machines, oran internal clock or un-clocked logic may be used. Pattern-decodinggenerator 50 may be implemented with combinatorial logic to generate thedesired patterns for data outputs D1:DM. A read-only memory (ROM)containing the patterns could also be used, or a field-programmable gatearray (FPGA).

FIG. 6 is a table of commands or an address map sent over thegeneral-purpose bus to select LED cycling patterns. The command sentover bits GPB(N:1) on general-purpose bus 52 could be sent as part of asequence that has a start command word and a checksum, or could be sentalone. When bits GPB(N:1) are 0000 0000, a line-continue cycling patternas shown in FIG. 9A is selected at the normal output voltage for dataoutputs D1:M. When bits GPB(N:1) are 0000 0001, the continue-backwardssequence of FIG. 9B is activated.

Other reserved values could light a single LED at the normal outputvoltage for data outputs D1:M. Other values of GPB(N:1) could select ahold pattern for data outputs D1:M. The hold pattern could be the laststate of the cycling pattern, or could be a set pattern with more thanone LED lit.

A sequence of commands could be sent over general-purpose bus 52. Forexample, a command to start the cycling pattern could be sent, then acommand to hold the pattern, then the cycling pattern is re-started, butat a lower output voltage to dim the LED's.

New cycling patterns could also be sent over general-purpose bus 52. Asequence-start command word could be sent over general-purpose bus 52first, followed by several words of the pattern, then ending with aunique sequence-end command word. More complex multi-word commandsequences could also be devised.

FIG. 7 shows a USB flash drive with a flexible PCB having a multi-LEDdisplay. USB flash drive 68 is a small portable device that contains aUSB flash controller and flash memory chips mounted on a small PCB. USBconnector 64 can be mounted on this PCB and can be plugged into amatching USB connector on the host.

When the PCB is sufficiently large, pattern-decoding generator 50 mayalso be mounted on it. Some PCB's may even allow room for more multipleLED's. However, in this embodiment, pattern-decoding generator 50 andLED's 72 are mounted on a separate, flexible PCB 60. Flexible PCB 60 maybe attached to the main PCB of USB flash drive 68 by soldering tocontact pads of pattern-decoding generator 50. Pattern-decodinggenerator 50 has pins for soldering on it.

Flexible PCB 60 can be bent in a U-shape to surround the main PCB orother components, or to fit in a casing or molding for USB flash drive68. LED's 72 may fit in openings or holes in the casing or align withcasing windows to allow LED's 72 to be visible to the user. The numberof LED's 72 on flexible PCB 60 can vary, but could be 8 single-color or8 multi-colored LED's in one embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows a round-circle multi-LED display. The LED's driven by thedata outputs of pattern-decoding generator 50 (FIG. 5) may be placed ina circular pattern. In this example, 8 LED's are arranged in a circle.The LED's marked “1” are lit first, with the others dark, then LED'smarked “2” are lit and the other 6 LED's dark. LED's marked “3” and “4”are then lit in the sequence. The lit LED appears to spin around half ofthe circle, from LED 1 to LED 2, 3, 4.

Two LED's are lit at a time, one for each half-circle. The lit LED'sappear to be spinning around the circle opposite each other. Both LED's1 may be driven by the same data output of the pattern-decodinggenerator. Likewise, both of LED's 2 may be driven by D2, both of LED's3 driven by D3, and both of LED's 4 driven by D4. This can reduce costsince one data output drives two LED's, reducing the number of dataoutputs from 8 to 4.

When multi-color LED's are substituted, the circle pattern could changecolor periodically, or after each complete loop of the sequence.

FIGS. 9A-F show linear-display pattern sequences. Each LED is lit in thesequence indicated. LED 1 is lit first, then LED 2, then LED 3, etc,until LED 8 is lit. Then the sequence repeats. Only one LED is lit at atime.

In FIG. 9A, a continue-forward sequence pattern is shown. One LED is litand the lit LED appears to travel down the line of 8 LED's from left toright. A simple marquee pattern is produced. The display sequence ismuch more attention-grabbing than a single LED or just a few LED's.

In FIG. 9B, a continue-backward sequence pattern is shown. One LED islit and the lit LED appears to travel down the line of 8 LED's fromright to left. This is a backward-traveling marquee pattern is produced.

FIG. 9C shows a jump-1 forward pattern. One LED is skipped or jumpedover as the lit LED travels from left to right. The pattern continueswith the second-most LED from the left at time 5. Thus this marqueepattern moves more rapidly from left to right, and repeats itself usingthe skipped LED's. FIG. 9D shows the same jump-1 pattern in reverse.

FIG. 9E shows a jump-2 forward pattern. Two LED's are jumped over eachtime the lit LED is changed. For example, the left-most LED is litfirst, then the next two LED positions (LED's 4, 7) are skipped over andthe fourth LED position, LED 2, is lit. Then LED's 5, 8 are skipped andLED 3 is lit. The pattern returns to LED's 4, 5, 6 on the second pass,and LED's 7, 8 on the third pass from left to right. FIG. 9F shows thejump-2 backward pattern.

FIGS. 10A-F show dual linear-display pattern sequences. Each data outputform the pattern-decoding generator drives two LED's. For example D1drives the two LED's 1, then D2 drives the two LED's 2, etc. Two LED'sare lit at once.

FIG. 10A shows dual continue-forward patterns. Two LED's are lit at onceand appear to travel across four LED positions from left to right. Thisproduces a dazzling pattern at moderate speeds. FIG. 10B shows the dualcontinue-backward pattern.

The two lit LED's can appear to travel inward towards the middle, asshown in FIG. 10C, or outward from the middle, as shown in FIG. 10D.FIGS. 10E, F show dual jump patterns that skip over LED positions andthen repeat, lighting the skipped-over LED's in the second pass. Thesecan also produce very visually stimulating pattern sequences.

FIGS. 11A-D show dual circular pattern sequences. Each data output fromthe pattern-decoding generator drives two LED's. For example D1 drivesthe two LED's 1, then D2 drives the two LED's 2, etc. Two LED's are litat once.

Some LED's are lit more often than others in these sequences. In FIG.11A, the lit LED moves forward from the left-most LED 1, to LED 2, 3, 4.Then the lit LED moves backwards an re-lights LED 3, re-lights LED 2,and then repeats with LED 1. Thus LED's 2/6 and 3/5 are lit twice ineach sequence, but LED's 1, 4 are lit only once per sequence. The loopsequences can both move clockwise, as shown in FIG. 11A, orcounter-clockwise, as shown in FIG. 11B. One loop of four LED's can moveclockwise while the other loop of four LED's moves counter-clockwise, asshown in FIG. 11C with inward loops and FIG. 11D with outward loops.

Alternate Embodiments

Several other embodiments are contemplated by the inventors. Rather thanuse USB buses, other serial buses may be used such as PCI Express,ExpressCard, Firewire (IEEE 1394), serial ATA, serial attachedsmall-computer system interface (SCSI), etc.

The pattern-decoding generator and other controllers and functions canbe implemented in a variety of ways. Functions can be programmed andexecuted by a CPU or other processor, or can be implemented in dedicatedhardware, firmware, or in some combination. Many partitioning of thefunctions can be substituted.

Various colors for the LED's could be used. Besides red, green, andblue, other colors displayed may include amber, brown, violet, gray, andwhite. Some colors can be produces by combinations or mixing of the 3primary colors. The voltage to the LED's can be adjusted to adjust thecolor intensity.

Rather than standard LED's, other display technologies could besubstituted, such as lit pipes, strips of LED's, liquid crystal display(LCD) elements, thin-film transistors, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Switches(MEMS), electronic ink, etc.

The activity signal could be a periodic signal activated whenflash-memory activity occurs. The period and duty cycle of the activitysignal could vary. For example, the activity signal could be a squarewave signal at 12.5 Hz, with 40 milli-second high and low pulses, orcould have other values. The length of time for reset being active afterpower-up can be adjusted by adjusting the time constant of the resistorand capacitor on the RS pin.

The number of bits for GPB(N:1) could be a different value of N than forthe address lines of address decoder 14. For example, bits GPB(N:1)could be 8 bits while address decoder 14 has 16 address lines.

The LED's could be arranged linearly in a line. The line could be bentinto various shapes, such as the U-shape of flexible PCB 60 of FIG. 7.The same linear patterns can be used even when the line of LED's is thusbent. The LED's can be arranged in other shapes, such as the circle ofFIG. 8, or in a triangle, square, polygon, or other shapes.

Display patterns could be combined in a variety of ways. For example,the continue-forward pattern of FIG. 9A could be immediately followed bythe continue-backward pattern of FIG. 9B. When multi-color LED's aresubstituted, the pattern or sequence of patterns could change colorperiodically, or after each complete loop of the sequence. Patternscould be selected and changed randomly to add visual variety. All LED'scan be kept dark for a holding period after each sequence, such as forhalf or a tenth of a second before the pattern repeats. All LED's couldalso be briefly lit at the end of a sequence or to indicate an error orcompletion of an operation. More complex displays with multiple segmentscould be used, such as starbursts, asterisks, etc.

The multi-LED display and the pattern-decoding generator could be usedin a variety of other applications. The display could be used in anotebook or desktop PC, a personal digital assistant (PDA), cell phone,or unified device. Other uses could include a memory module, external orinternal flash drives of various shapes and sizes, music players such asMP3 devices, video players such as MPEG-4 devices, card readers, badges,smart cards, keyboards, mice or other pointing devices, speakers, orheadsets. Flash-memory cards or other portable device cards using theseform factors can also benefit from the multi-LED display, such assecure-digital, compact-flash, multi-media cards, smart media cards,ExpressCards, and memory sticks. The multi-LED display could also beused for a variety of decorations or with other electronic devices suchas a LED flashlight or a LED light tube. A 2-way write-protect switchcould be used, or more complex switches such as a 3-wayon-off-write-protect switch could be used to turn off the LED display.

The flexible PCB could be single-layer of a polyimide cover layerlaminated to copper metal, or could have multiple layers.

The abstract of the disclosure is provided to comply with the rulesrequiring an abstract, which will allow a searcher to quickly ascertainthe subject matter of the technical disclosure of any patent issued fromthis disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will notbe used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. 37C.F.R. sect. 1.72(b). Any advantages and benefits described may notapply to all embodiments of the invention. When the word “means” isrecited in a claim element, Applicant intends for the claim element tofall under 35 USC sect. 112, paragraph 6. Often a label of one or morewords precedes the word “means”. The word or words preceding the word“means” is a label intended to ease referencing of claims elements andis not intended to convey a structural limitation. Suchmeans-plus-function claims are intended to cover not only the structuresdescribed herein for performing the function and their structuralequivalents, but also equivalent structures. For example, although anail and a screw have different structures, they are equivalentstructures since they both perform the function of fastening. Claimsthat do not use the word “means” are not intended to fall under 35 USCsect. 112, paragraph 6. Signals are typically electronic signals, butmay be optical signals such as can be carried over a fiber optic line.

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has beenpresented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light ofthe above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention belimited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claimsappended hereto.

1. A visually-dazzling multi-light-emitting diode (LED) displaycomprising: a pattern-decoding generator that receives an activitysignal that indicates occurrence of an activity, the pattern-decodinggenerator generating a sequence of data signals onto a plurality of datalines; and a plurality of LED's, coupled to the pattern-decodinggenerator by the plurality of data lines, the plurality of LED's beingdriven with the sequence of data signals on the plurality of data lines;wherein the sequence of data signals comprises at least four uniquestates of the data signals, producing a visual sequence of at least fourvisually different combinations of illuminated LED's in the plurality ofLED's, whereby visually different combinations of illuminated LED's aregenerated by the pattern-decoding generator.
 2. The visually-dazzlingmulti-light-emitting diode display of claim 1 further comprising: amemory controller that controls access to a memory, the memorycontroller generating the activity signal when the memory is beingaccessed.
 3. The visually-dazzling multi-light-emitting diode display ofclaim 2 wherein the memory controller is a flash memory controller andthe memory is a flash memory.
 4. The visually-dazzlingmulti-light-emitting diode display of claim 3 wherein the memorycontroller further comprises a Universal-Serial-Bus (USB) flashcontroller that connects to a host through a USB bus.
 5. Thevisually-dazzling multi-light-emitting diode display of claim 4 furthercomprising: a general-purpose bus coupled between the USB flashcontroller and the pattern-decoding generator; wherein the USB flashcontroller sends commands over the general-purpose bus to thepattern-decoding generator to control the sequence of data signals onthe plurality of data lines and the visually different combinations ofilluminated LED's.
 6. The visually-dazzling multi-light-emitting diodedisplay of claim 5 wherein the commands sent over the general-purposebus include commands to hold a current combination of illuminated LED's,to cycle the sequence, or to illuminate a single LED, and to adjustvoltage on the plurality of data lines.
 7. The visually-dazzlingmulti-light-emitting diode display of claim 2 wherein the plurality ofLED's comprises at least 4 LED's and the plurality of data linescomprises at least 4 data lines.
 8. The visually-dazzlingmulti-light-emitting diode display of claim 7 wherein the plurality ofLED's comprises at least 8 LED's and the plurality of data linescomprises at least 4 data lines; wherein each data line connects to twoLED's in the plurality of LED's, wherein two LED's are simultaneouslydriven at a time by the pattern-decoding generator.
 9. Thevisually-dazzling multi-light-emitting diode display of claim 7 whereineach LED in the plurality of LED's comprises a multi-color LED havingthree data inputs for receiving three data lines of the plurality ofdata lines, each of the three data inputs for controlling illuminationof a different color.
 10. The visually-dazzling multi-light-emittingdiode display of claim 9 wherein each multi-color LED further comprises:a shared resistor that receives current from all three data inputs afterpassing through a light-emitting element; a shared output, connected tothe shared resistor; wherein each multi-color LED has three data inputsand one shared output.
 11. The visually-dazzling multi-light-emittingdiode display of claim 2 wherein the pattern-decoding generatorcomprises: an address generator that is clocked by the activity signal,the address generator incrementing an N-bit address in response to theactivity signal; an address decoder, receiving the N-bit address fromthe address generator, for decoding the N-bit address to drive theplurality of data lines that comprise M data lines, wherein M is largerthan N.
 12. The visually-dazzling multi-light-emitting diode display ofclaim 11 wherein only one of the M data lines is activated for each dataword in the sequence of data signals.
 13. The visually-dazzlingmulti-light-emitting diode display of claim 2 further comprising:flexible printed-circuit board (PCB) having wiring traces formedthereon; wherein the plurality of LED's are mounted on the flexibleprinted-circuit board.
 14. The visually-dazzling multi-light-emittingdiode display of claim 13 wherein the pattern-decoding generator is alsomounted on the flexible printed-circuit board.
 15. A portable memorydevice comprising: a memory; a device controller that receives commandsfrom a host over a serial bus and controls access to the memory for thehost; wherein the device controller generates an activity signal whenthe memory is being accessed; a pattern-decoding generator that receivesthe activity signal from the device controller, the pattern-decodinggenerator generating a sequence of data signals on a plurality of datalines, the sequence being activated in response to the activity signal;and a display having a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LED's) thatare driven by the plurality of data lines from the pattern-decodinggenerator to produce a visually changing sequence of illuminated LED's;wherein the visually changing sequence of illuminated LED's comprises atleast four visually different states, whereby the visually changingsequence on the display is generated when the memory is being accessed.16. The portable memory device of claim 15 wherein the serial bus is aUniversal-Serial-Bus (USB), a PCI Express bus, an ExpressCard bus, aFirewire IEEE 1394 bus, a serial ATA bus, or a serial attachedsmall-computer system interface bus.
 17. The portable memory device ofclaim 15 wherein the visually changing sequence on the display comprisesa circular sequence on a round-circle multi-LED display, alinear-display pattern sequence on a linear display, a duallinear-display pattern sequence, or a dual circular pattern sequence.18. A portable device with a visually-dazzling display comprising:memory means for storing user data for a user of a host; devicecontroller means, coupled to the memory means and for coupling to thehost, for generating an activity signal when the memory means isaccessed; pattern generating means, coupled to receive the activitysignal from the device controller means, for driving a sequence onto aplurality of display-data lines; and multi-light display means, having aplurality of display elements that are separately illuminated inresponse to the plurality of display-data lines; wherein the multi-lightdisplay means has at least four display elements; wherein the sequencedriven onto the plurality of data lines produces a visually changingsequence of illuminated display elements that comprises at least fourvisually different states in the sequence.
 19. The portable device witha visually-dazzling display of claim 18 wherein each data line connectsto at least two of the display elements including a first displayelement in a first display section and a second display element in asecond display section; wherein the multi-light display means is a dualdisplay with the sequence being displayed on both the first displaysection and on the second display section.
 20. The portable device witha visually-dazzling display of claim 18 further comprising: flexibleprinted-circuit board means for supporting the display elements in themulti-light display means and for supporting the pattern generatingmeans; wiring means, on the flexible printed-circuit board means, forconnecting the plurality of data lines from the pattern generating meansto the display elements.